The Premier League champions looked like a throwback to the naive English European performances of the mid-90s, says Miguel Delaney

A new nadir, but only as a consequence and combination of so many existing issues. Whatever about the definition of insanity, this was yet another demonstration of inability.

David Moyes claimed he was “surprised” by the 2-0 defeat to Olympiakos and that he didn’t see that “level of performance coming". That may be evidently be true for the Manchester United boss given the amount of times he keeps making the same mistakes, but it is not something anyone else could say with genuine honesty. So much of this performance in Athens was completely predictable, but the most problematic part was how bad it got given how high the stakes had become.

There can be no escaping the searing significance.

With the top four now virtually out of reach, and the two domestic cups gone, the Champions League was essentially United’s only remaining realistic goal. There was a strong undercurrent of talk about how the club could replicate Liverpool in 2005 or Chelsea in 2012, and many of the senior players fed that feeling before the game. All of Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie spoke with real intent about winning the competition.

They didn’t play like it.

Instead, United offered their worst performance of the season in the most important game of the season. That is lamentable.

Rather than looking like they were at least attempting to save the next three months, United brought to a head all of the issues of the last seven.

Here, we barely even saw any uninspiring crossing. The rigid football of the Moyes era so far degenerated into something even more dismal.

Van Persie may have been atrociously culpable in missing such a good chance late on, but he was witheringly on target with one comment: “I don’t get a lot of chances so when you get one, you have to score”.

For a club whose recent history was reared on rousing goalmouth sieges, that is damning.

The most glaring problem is the complete lack of integration and thereby imagination. Rather than vibrantly linking up in the manner that a forward line featuring Van Persie and Rooney - or indeed the needlessly absent Adnan Januzaj - should, United just look so atrociously flaccid.

That is a problem primarily conditioned by the flat lines the team play in, which offer little opportunity for movement or triangles, but undeniably exacerbated by a complete lack of intensity throughout the team. Quite simply, that is startling for a team previously famous for their motivation and character. The performance of a former leader like Rio Ferdinand summed it up: 0 interceptions, 0 headers won, 0 clearances.

Clearly, the players must take responsibility here, but the crux is how far that goes. Ultimately, the absolute first task of any manager is to get a reaction out of his squad.

That is not happening.

Rather than reacting, United are regressing.

This looked like one of those European displays English clubs put in during the mid-90s, when the league was still catching up after the Heysel ban, and so many mid-tier continental clubs gradually exposed them by attrition. Except, instead of naive, this was just negative.

That all arguably reflects what United currently are: a mere top-half team under a manager not quite modern enough.

Now, it’s never been more imperative that Moyes gets right up to speed.

The single saving grace is that, not for the first time, the manager can at least point to the fact it can be turned around; that it’s not over.

The problem is that we’ve already heard that so much. The most pressing issue is that, for this campaign at least, this is effectively the last time it can be said.